1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an electrophotographic process and, more particularly, to an image editing method utilizing a reversed image forming device to modify a portion of an image.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Copying machines available nowadays in the market employ a so-called standard developing system wherein an image of the original document to be copied is projected onto a uniformly electrostatically charged photosensitive surface of a photoreceptor drum thereby to deplete the electrostatic charge at a background area other than at the area which has been exposed to the image of the original document, i.e., to form an electrostatic latent image, which is subsequently developed into a powder image by the application of toner particles having an electrical polarity opposite to that of the electrostatic charge built up at that area.
Because of this, it is possible to arrange a plurality of light emitting diodes between the image exposing station and the developing station so as to extend in a direction parallel to the axis of the latent image carrier so that, by arbitrarily controlling the combination and the timing of some or all of the light emitting diodes to be lit, an image editing can be accomplished wherein the electrostatic charge is partially removed to remove the image.
However, in a system such as, for example, a laser printer, wherein a reversed developing system is employed, a laser beam is radiated onto the electrostatically charged photosensitive surface of the latent image carrier to remove the electrostatic charge at an image area so that electrically charged toner particles can be subsequently applied thereto. Because of this, in order to accomplish the image editing wherein a portion of the image is removed, an area which is to be removed must be electrically charged and this is in contrast to that in the standard developing system.
Since the photosensitive surface of the latent image carrier is generally adapted to be electrostatically charged by the discharge taking place in a corona wire of an electrostatic charger which extends parallel to the photosensitive surface, it is not easy to achieve a partial charging of the photosensitive surface and, if not impossible, a substantial amount of equipment is required to achieve it, thereby posing a problem associated with economy.